Life Starts Now
by blesshiscottonsocks
Summary: "You're not who I thought you were." "Life is full of disappointments." Casey has been through hell and back. From serving in the Marine Corps then being put back into survival mode after the disease spread across the nation. The NOLA Drifters split up to travel to the CDC then find their oasis-rather creating it or taking it from someone else.
1. The Beginning

"I'm so sorry, Dad."

I brushed back his shaggy hair as my throat started to swell. As if on cue my cheeks became hot and tears started to steam down them. I gently placed his head onto the grass and gave him a peck on his forehead, the only area that wasn't covered in blood or intestines.

I admired him one last time.

Time.

Something we don't get anymore. We don't get to mourn our losses like we could before the virus took over. It had to be quick and to the point. We can't take our time and say our goodbyes unless we wanted to be Lurker food. Every person in our group that had been killed was different. No one changed at the same time as the other. But I can't take any chances. I can't let him be miserable.

I took the pistol off safety and aimed it towards his head.

"I'm so...so sorry. I-I couldn't save you. I shouldn't have left.." I whispered.

I trudged through the woods back to our campground, keeping an eye out for any Lurkers. Everything was going smooth until this morning when one made its way to join us for breakfast.

The group looked at me with sad expressions, yet no exchanging of words. They carried on with their daily chores; cleaning a few shirts in a large basin, inventory, and preparing new traps and signals to set up around the perimeter until time for us to move again.

This time we would be headed to Atlanta. Half of our group already left to scope out the area, including my mother, Jaqui and older brothers, Waylon and Jack.

"Casey, Tobias wants to talk to you."

I looked up to the man who was speaking, Mr. Bergeron. Born and raised in New Orleans like the majority of us. He was a tough son of a bitch with a thick accent and a sweet wife.

Nodding, I quickly made my way to Tobias' tent to see what he might need.

"Ah, Ms. Avet, Come on in." He grinned and pointed towards his bed, offering me a seat.

"How are you, Tobi?" I politely asked.

He rubbed his hand over his bald head and replaced his grin with a more concerned expression.

"Let's cut to the chase. Your dad died. I get it, my family died too. And I'm sorry, but we gotta start doin' better out here. We gotta make it to Atlanta and catch up with the rest of our people if we are goin' to survive. But I need you to do somethin' more...behind the scenes for me first, if you will. You have great skills, especially with your history. I need you to check out this area here, circled on the map. Kenny heard some rumors about a society."

I took the map from his hands and quickly traced over the roads I would need to take. Of course there will be road blocks from all the cars left behind and crowds of Lurkers.

"Find out who they are, if they will take more people in. If not, see how big of a group they have. We will meet you at the CDC." He grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eyes, waiting for my response.

"I'll meet you there."

Tobias grinned again as I examined the map once more before folding it up and putting it into my back pocket.


	2. Tis but a Flesh Wound

My legs burned as I hiked through the wooded area. I'd rather be driving the rest of the way there but that became close to impossible due to a huge cluster of vehicles blocking the interstate and the Tahoe that would have been readily available was missing a radiator hose and other parts; leaving me to walk until another option comes up.

The journey was short. Two days max and I've already made it to the outskirts of Senoia.

The sun beat down on me as I sat my backpack down on a tree that had fallen over some time ago, grabbing a bottle of water and taking a break before finishing the walk.

Its times like this that I feel some sort of peace with myself. Only having to worry about Casey. Not anyone else. Just me.

Being alone.

But at the same time I hate being by myself. Being alone would bring back memories I tried so long to drown out.

Opening up the pouch around my waist, I quickly searched for my pill bottle. Still the one pill lingered.

"Thank fuck."

The sound of leaves crunching behind me caused me to grab ahold of my machete; not eager to pull out my gun and waste bullets.

I waited for the lurker to come out of the trees to play as adrenaline pushed through my veins. Except no lurkers came out. Instead it was a man either on the verge of dehydration or severely injured.

The tall man started to stumble around and then fell to the ground.

"Hey! Are you okay?!" I questioned, rushing towards him.

My attention was quickly drawn to the bolt that was in his side. I have to treat the wound or else he would be at risk of an infection.

Running back to the tree, I grabbed my backpack and headed back to him, pulling out all the first aid supplies I had.

"Can you hear me? I need you to wiggle your fingers if you can."

No reaction.

I unbuttoned his shirt and examined the wound. Luckily, it wasnt impaled into any arteries or organs and the tips werent specifically for hunting, an easy fix.

Mentally preparing myself for a brief minute, I got to work.

"Merle." His voice cracked

I ignored it, keeping my mind on the task. Atleast I know he is coming to.


End file.
